Boundless
by Sparanda
Summary: This world was created with no need for gods, but one man wishes to gain enough power to become one. Armed with the sword of destiny, Naruto fights to protect this boundless new world. Naruto x Xenoblade. Focus on Naruto.
1. Beyond the Sky

"_This world is boundless."_

Those were the last words spoken by a man called Alvis. Alvis had been what amounted to the god of his world. Zanza had sought to destroy that world to become the god, only for Shulk and his friends to defeat him and create a world without gods.

The Monado was a sword of destiny. It had belonged to the Bionis, a colossal living titan from the previous world. After waging war against Mechonis, an equally massive mechanical titan, the Bionis fell into sleep and the Monado passed onto Shulk.

The Monado was an amazing weapon… no, it was something more. One who could truly control the Monado used it more as an extension of himself than a weapon. It had amazing powers, but these powers could only be utilized by a select few.

In short, the Monado chose its wielder.

* * *

><p>A weathered old man smiled as he looked through the window of the aircraft he was travelling in. He didn't know the specifics of where they were going, but he would know when they got there. He could feel it.<p>

The old man looked across the passenger area to his companion. Though her appearance seemed to put her in her late thirties, she was actually close to two hundred years old. A stark comparison to the elderly man she was travelling with.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, returning the man's gaze.

"As sure as I ever have been."

"I suppose if I can trust anyone, it's you, Shulk."

The old man laughed, a rough, gravelly sound that failed to remind her of their younger days. "I'm glad you still trust me after all this time, Melia."

* * *

><p>"I must say," said another wizened old man, "we weren't expecting visitors from the far continents. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"<p>

Compared to Shulk, this man seemed young and lively despite his age. The Third Hokage was certainly no spring chicken (though he would claim he still had a fair amount of kick left in him) but he had never heard of anyone other than the First Hokage living as long as the man that sat before him.

His companion was an even stranger sight: a middle-aged woman with small wings on either side of her head who claimed to be twice the age of her friend.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had heard many stories of the inhabitants of the far continents, but visitors had been few and far between. The far continents seemed to avoid the Elemental Nations as much as possible. Something about the idea of shinobi being wielders of death of shadow didn't sit right with them.

Those who took the time to meet and learn about the people in the Elemental Nations found a different story (depending on where they went). The Fire Nation, and particularly the village of Konoha, seemed as peaceful as their own home, if much less advanced technologically.

"I come bearing a gift," Shulk answered. He turned to one of their escorts who held a large package. Sarutobi could not see what was inside even though the container seemed to be made of glass. The escort (another one with wings on his head) set the package on the floor and it somehow balanced in its side, pointing straight up. The Hokage estimated the container was about four feet long, likely too long for any conventional weapon, but his curiosity had been piqued.

Shulk stood with the help of the woman (who had been introduced as Melia) and moved towards the container. He set a shaky hand against the glass and whispered "The Monado bends to my will." Instantly a light ran up the container signaling a compartment opening.

Inside was a large red device that looked almost like a sword. The handle was about a foot long and the hilt stuck out to one side with a circular pane of glass covering it… no, Hiruzen could see many layers of glass inside the hilt. The rest of the weapon curved upward into a rather blunt design that did not seem good for cutting. All in all, it looked nice, but Sarutobi was skeptical about its worth.

"This is the Monado," Shulk explained as he returned to his seat. "In our continent, it was rumored to be the sword used by a god."

Shulk smiled at the Hokage. "I wielded the Monado in my youth."

'_A sword used by a god, but this man claims to have wielded it,'_ Sarutobi mused. _'He must be a very influential person.'_

"That sounds mighty impressive," he finally said. "However… Forgive my doubt, but how effective is this Monado?"

"The Monado opens to reveal a blade of energy known in our land as 'ether.' I believe it would be something similar to the 'chakra' that you shinobi use."

The Hokage reigned in his surprise before it could register on his face. _'A sword made of chakra? It's just like the Second's Sword of the Thunder God!'_ "That certainly removes any doubts I had, though I wonder if it would be possible to see the Monado in action…?"

Shulk shook his head slowly. "Unfortunately, I am the only one who can wield this Monado, and my age has made it impossible for me to weather the strain that it puts on my body."

Sarutobi steeped his hands, crossing his fingers just in front of his mouth. "Forgive me, but… 'this' Monado?"

Shulk smiled at this. "Ah, so you noticed that, did you?"

"We shinobi must pay attention to details such as this, lest we perish from misinformation."

Shulk laughed. "Aha, a warrior through and through, eh? Yes, there was more than one Monado, truth be told, but this is the one known as the god's sword. The others were manifested by specific individuals during times of duress."

Sarutobi had grown skeptical again after this revelation. "Perhaps it would be beneficial if you were to tell me how you came into possession of the Monado and how you used it," he suggested.

"Of course, where are my manners?" Shulk laughed again. "Let me tell you about the Monado, the sword of destiny."

Shulk described the events of his youth and the fight against Mechonis, though he described it with a smaller scale, leaving out the parts about the Bionis and Mechonis being gigantic living continents and how he rewrote the world from scratch.

"That was a very fantastic tale, Shulk-san," Sarutobi said once the story was finished. "The Monado seems to be a very interesting weapon. I suppose the only thing I have left to ask is why you brought it here."

Shulk smiled once more. "As you can tell, I am getting on in years." The winged woman giggled softly in amusement before resuming her regal appearance. "The Monado, as you have heard, is not a normal blade. It is a sword of destiny that chooses its own master. Once I am gone, there will be no one in our land who can wield it, but I sense there is one here who can."

Hiruzen was once more on edge. "And you know this because…?"

"Come now, Hokage-sama, you've just heard the story," Shulk said with another small laugh. "I saw a vision of a young man wearing a headband with the symbol of your village that wielded the Monado with the same ability that I had."

"Do you have some idea as to who this young man might be?"

"I was hoping you might," Shulk admitted. "I know what the boy could look like in the future, but I know not what he is like now." Sarutobi leaned back a bit, slightly dejected. "I can tell you, now that I think about it," Shulk continued, "that the large face on the far right of the mountain bears a surprising resemblance to the boy I saw."

The Hokage stared at Shulk for a moment longer. _'I should have guessed.'_ "The boy you are looking for is known as Uzumaki Naruto," he stated. "He is the son of the Fourth Hokage, who died seven years ago by sacrificing himself to protect the village."

"Oh, then the boy is regarded as the son of a hero then?" Shulk looked hopeful.

"If only that were the case."

* * *

><p>"It's pretty rare that you call me here, Old Man. I usually just show up on my own!"<p>

Sarutobi and Shulk looked to the door to see an eight year-old Naruto enter the office. The escorts had left before his arrival, so Naruto was alone with the two elders now. "Who's the new old man, Old Man?" Naruto grinned at his own joke.

"Naruto, this man is Shulk. He's come from very far away to bring you a gift."

Naruto walked up next to Shulk and seemed to study him closely.

"How are you, Naruto-san?" Shulk asked sincerely.

Naruto paid no mind, scrunching his face up to inspect the new old man. Finally, Naruto relaxed and stuck his hands behind his head. "You're super strong, aren't you?" he asked with a huge grin. "Just like old man Hokage here."

Shulk laughed. "I used to be, sure enough," he replied. "But my age has caught up to me and I no longer have the strength to fight like you think."

"Isn't that what makes you super strong, though?" Naruto asked. "You were so strong that you lived this long through all of your fights instead of kicking the bucket."

"True enough," Shulk agreed. "He's just as you said, Hokage-sama. I can see the fire in his eyes as well."

"Indeed," Sarutobi said with a smile at his young charge.

"Old Man said you had a gift for me?" Naruto asked, suddenly remembering the Hokage's comment.

"Yes, could you help me over to that container, Naruto-san?" Naruto helped Shulk stand and led him over. "This is the Monado. It is an immensely powerful sword that I used when I was younger. But my time is done now and I would like to pass it on to you."

Most people thought Naruto was just an idiot who would jump at any chance like this, but he hesitated. "Didn't old man Hokage say you came from far away? If that's the case, how do you even know about me and why would you give me something like this?" Naruto studied the Monado for a moment before turning back to Shulk. "Don't tell me… you knew my parents!"

"I'm afraid not, Naruto-san," Shulk admitted. "As I said, the Monado is a very powerful sword. It has many special powers, one of which is granting visions of the future to its wielder. I saw you with the Monado in one of those visions, so I have to fulfill that prophecy."

"I'm not sure I got all that, but okay," Naruto grumbled. Most of what Shulk had said went over his head. He was a bit of an idiot after all. "If you say so, I'll gladly take it, old man Shulk!"

"I'm glad to hear that, Naruto-san." They returned to the seat in front of the Hokage after Naruto took the Monado from the glass container. It attached easily to his back even though there was nothing there for it to connect to. "Now as I said, the Monado has many special powers. I will not tell you how to unlock them. I had to learn on my own to master the Monado, and so must you."

Naruto frowned a bit, but his face returned to a smile almost instantly. "I prefer it that way! If you just gave me all the answers, that'd be too easy."

"Well said," Shulk replied. "I won't tell you how to unlock its powers, but I will tell you something that helped me when I was younger."

"What's that?"

Shulk smiled and looked right at Naruto. "The Monado bends to your will."

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 1 End<em>

_This story will focus entirely on Naruto's story, as you might imagine. Despite being a crossover, there will be very few (if any) characters from Xenoblade appearing from here on out. I've got plans for a lot of the early fights but not much beyond that. It'll be a learning experience for both of us._

_And yes, this crossover idea is silly. But I love the possibility and I wanted to write it so here we are. Hopefully I don't get stuck like I did with my other fanfics._


	2. Monado Unbound

Life had carried on rather normally for Naruto after receiving the gift from the strange old man that had shown up in the Hokage's office one day. 'Old man Shulk' had never returned to the village as far as he knew. He figured either it was too difficult to get back to Konoha from where he was or he had…

More pressing on Naruto's mind was the fact that he hadn't been able to 'unlock' the Monado's power despite the final hint Shulk had given him. At first he had taken it everywhere with him. He wore it proudly on his back as he walked through the streets, ignoring the leers of the other villagers. He had even brought it to the academy after he had first received it. Unfortunately the teachers there thought he had stolen it so he started leaving it home instead.

This year he had been placed in the class led by Iruka, basically the only sensei at the academy that didn't treat him like dirt. He was strict, but even Naruto could tell he meant well.

Iruka hadn't cared about Naruto bringing the Monado into class, but it had caused quite an uproar among some of the students (and the parents of those students) so he had been told to leave it at home.

It was well enough for Naruto. The stupid thing didn't work anyway. He'd had it for four years now, and never once did he notice anything similar to the 'activation' Shulk had mentioned.

'_Bends to my will… yeah sure. One of these days I'll bend it over a rock.'_

So Naruto ignored the Monado for the most part. Every once in a while, during the rare times he wasn't pulling pranks around the village or eating ramen, he would sit on his bed with the Monado in his lap and… meditate. He laughed every so often imagining the look on Iruka-sensei's face if he could have seen the hyperactive ninja-in-training sitting still for longer than a minute, let alone meditating.

Naruto knew he was an idiot. He knew he had a long road ahead of him if he truly wanted to be the Hokage. "There are no shortcuts," he had told himself every time he received a failing grade on a test. He knew the material that the academy taught was important in most cases, but he just cared more about physical strength than learning.

Naruto felt calm when he was meditating. While he couldn't sense anything from the Monado, it was during these times that he truly believed it was something more than just a hunk of metal to be lugged around. …Until the meditating ended and he still hadn't activated it and got angry. What the village didn't know was that most of his prank sprees stemmed from Naruto need to let off some steam after another failed meditation session.

But through all of this, Naruto held onto the Monado. He felt at times that he would be better off throwing it away, but something held him back. He didn't know what it was, but he knew throwing the Monado away would cause more problems than holding onto it.

Four years in the academy had gone to waste. Naruto was usually pretty good about putting on a strong face at times like this, but he had actually tried really hard to pass this time. If only it weren't for the damn bunshin no jutsu that the examiners loved to put on the final…

He knew he had messed up. He was an idiot and his ego could rival the best of them at times, but even he knew he was at fault for failing a test. He just wasn't good enough.

It made all the time he had spent training and all the meditating seem entirely pointless. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to blame the teachers; he wanted to blame the Hokage; he wanted to blame old man Shulk for not telling him the secret to the Monado…

In the end he could only blame himself, so he sulked on his way home from the academy after failing the graduation test. He had been planning to head home, but he ended up wandering through the village instead. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear someone approach from behind.

"Naruto!"

He turned to find Mizuki, the assistant teacher for his class, standing there with a sad smile. Mizuki had sat in on all the examinations; he had even tried to stand up for Naruto when his clones had turned out less than usable.

Mizuki pulled him over to chat about the exam. He didn't really want to, but he also had nothing better to do and Mizuki-sensei didn't seem that bad.

"Iruka-sensei is a very strict person, Naruto," Mizuki explained. "His parents were killed when he was very young and he had to take care of himself."

"Well the same thing happened to me, right?" Naruto grumbled. "Why does he pick on me like that?"

Mizuki gave that sad smile again. "He probably sees a bit of himself in you. He just wants to become strong on your own, without being given a free pass."

"I get that," Naruto whispered. "I said the same thing when old man Shulk gave me the Monado. I told him I didn't want to take the easy way, but now it seems like there's no way."

Mizuki stared at the depressed boy. "Naruto… do you really want to graduate?"

"I wish I had, but there's no way now, right?"

"What if I told you there was another way to do it?"

* * *

><p>'<em>So I managed to sneak into the Hokage's tower, steal the scroll, and get out without anyone noticing (I had to use sexy jutsu to get past the Old Man). I came to the spot that Mizuki-sensei told me to wait for Iruka-sensei, but I wonder why he wanted me to bring the Monado as well. It's not like this thing is useful at all…'<em>

That had been several hours ago. Naruto had been practicing his new jutsu all night long and he was starting to get the hang of it.

"I found you, Naruto!"

"Finally! I've been waiting for hours, Iruka-sensei!"

"Huh?"

Naruto reached over to pick up the Monado as he stood up. "Mizuki-sensei told me that-"

_Suddenly Naruto's vision was filled with grey. He could see Iruka standing over him but something was different. There were two massive shuriken sticking out of his back. Over Iruka's shoulder he could see Mizuki standing on a tree branch looking smug._

Everything returned to normal as soon as it had happened. "Naruto, are you okay?" Iruka looked worried. _'Mizuki?'_

"I'm not sure, did you see someth-"

"Get back, Naruto!"

Suddenly Iruka pushed him out of the way. Dozens of kunai battered Iruka's body a second later.

"Nice job finding the idiot!" a voice jeered.

"I see," Iruka groaned. "So that's how it is…"

Naruto looked across the clearing and saw Mizuki standing on a branch, just like he had seen in the weird vision a moment ago… and there were two large shuriken strapped to his back!

"Naruto!" Mizuki called. "Give me the scroll… and the Monado!"

'_The Monado?'_ Iruka wondered. "Naruto, whatever you do don't give him either one!"

Naruto looked back and forth between the two instructors. He had clearly seen Mizuki attack Iruka, and that strange vision was fresh in his mind as well.

"Mizuki used you to steal the scroll so he could take it, Naruto!" Iruka shouted. "It's filled with forbidden ninjutsu that could put the village in danger!"

Mizuki smirked and looked down at his two targets. "There's no point in you having that scroll or that sword, Naruto. They're useless to you." Then his smirk turned decidedly evil. "Hey, why don't I let you in on a little secret?"

Iruka flinched. "No, don't!"

"You remember the story of the demon fox that attacked the village twelve years ago, right?" Despite all of his senses screaming at him to simply run away, Naruto nodded his head and listened. "Ever since that day… a special rule was created for the Leaf Village, but you were never meant to know about it."

"Never meant to…" Naruto mumbled. "What do you mean? What is this rule?!"

Mizuki just laughed in response. Naruto took a nervous gulp before asking more quietly, "What kind of rule is it?"

"Stop now, Mizuki!" Iruka cried desperately.

"The rule is that no one can tell you that you are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox!"

Naruto froze in place and the Monado nearly slipped out of his hand.

"The Fourth Hokage sealed the fox away inside you. Your hero sacrificed his life in order to ruin yours!"

"Mizuki, stop!"

Naruto looked up at Mizuki as he pulled down one of the shuriken from his back. "You are the fox that destroyed the village! You killed Iruka's parents! He hates you just like all the other villagers!"

Mizuki let the shuriken fly and Naruto saw Iruka move from the corner of his eye. _'This is… That vision! Iruka-sensei! He… must be trying to protect me.'_ The world around Naruto slowed down as he looked down at the sword in his hands.

'_Iruka-sensei protected me in that vision… I can't let someone like Mizuki kill him,'_ Naruto told himself. _'If you really are a sword of destiny, now's the time to power up, Monado!'_

"Iruka-sensei!"

In a flash of blue light, the Monado unleashed its blade. Iruka stopped short in his mad dash to protect his student and watched speechless as Naruto cleaved the large shuriken in two. Mizuki looked even more surprised than Iruka.

Breathing heavily, Naruto pointed his newly-empowered weapon at Mizuki and yelled, "If you lay even one finger on Iruka-sensei… I'LL KILL YOU!"

Mizuki hesitated for a split second before laughing at the challenge. "Hahhahhahha! Fool! I'll kill both of you and take that blade for my own!" Mizuki countered. "What do you think someone who couldn't even pass the academy graduation could do to a full-fledged Chuunin?!"

Naruto looked down, still holding the Monado forward. "Just try it," he whispered. "Give it your best shot and I'll throw it back at you a thousand times over."

Iruka's eyes shot open as he looked at the Monado and noticed a marking had appeared in the glass circle near the hilt. "That's…" There was no mistaking the symbol.

"Monado… BUNSHIN!"

分身 is the character for 'bunshin' or 'clone.' Iruka recognized it as part of the normal bunshin no jutsu taught at the academy, but what Naruto had done was on a whole different level.

The entire clearing, up to the branches surrounding them, were full of Naruto clones. Even for normal clones, this was a fairly impressive feat, but Iruka noticed right away that the clones were moving dirt around where they stepped and making noise on the tree bark.

As if remembering that it was still there, Iruka looked back at the scroll tied to the original Naruto's back. _'The scroll contains forbidden jutsu… including the __kage bunshin no jutsu__. But that technique requires exponentially more chakra than the normal version, and Naruto made hundreds of them… no, a thousand!'_

Mizuki must have come to the same realization as he looked around frantically at the clones. "What… how did-"

"What's wrong?" called the original Naruto. "Weren't you going to kill me and take this sword?" He still held the Monado pointed directly at Mizuki.

Mizuki started turning to run away. "Oh no you don't!" The hundreds of clones converged on Mizuki, pinning him down and pummeling him into a bloody pulp.

* * *

><p>Iruka smiled as Naruto, clones now dispelled, looked down at the battered body of Mizuki. The Monado had deactivated and was once again attached to Naruto's back.<p>

"Hehe, I guess I went a bit too far, huh…" he mumbled.

"Naruto, come over here," Iruka said. "I have something I want to give you. Close your eyes."

Iruka could see the sun starting to rise, blanketing the clearing in a warm light as he tied his own headband where Naruto's goggles had been a moment ago.

"Okay, open your eyes now."

Slowly Naruto opened his eyes and saw Iruka smiling brightly, but he wasn't weaing his headband anymore. "What-"

"Congratulations, Naruto. You graduated!"

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 2 End<em>

_You may notice some differences compared to the canon scene. Since the Monado gave Naruto the vision of Iruka protecting him, he knew that Iruka did not actually hate him and therefore did not run away, which leads to the fight taking place in the original area without the chase and transform disguises._

_There will be some small changes like this, as well as dialogue being slightly different than expected. I don't like following 100% to the letter, especially since I'm going off of fan translations (that haven't been updated in 10 years probably). There will also be some big changes, as you might expect. Yes, I'll be going through the whole Naruto series (assuming my interest in writing doesn't die again)._

_I struggled on whether I wanted to have Naruto use kage bunshin in this way or have him use Monado Buster, but I had two problems against that. 1) It ignores his mastery of kage bunshin. 2) Buster would be way overpowered for this early._

_As this chapter indicates, I'm taking some creative liberty with how the Monado and ninjutsu work in conjunction with each other. This will be a repeating occurrence so if that bothers you, I suggest quitting now. Other jutsu will be channeled (and some amplified) by the Monado later in this story, so you've been warned on that count._

_Kage bunshin__ – Shadow Clone_


	3. Survival Training

"Hmm, how can I say this?" Jounin sensei Hatake Kakashi look at the three new genin in the room he had just entered. He knew he would be late; he always was. It was a habit he had picked up from his friend Obito before his death. Having Obito's Sharingan implanted in his left eye made sure of that.

Of course, his tardiness did not excuse the chalk board eraser that had fallen on his head as soon as the door was opened. Admittedly he hadn't been expecting it, but childish pranks weren't going to cut it for full-fledged shinobi.

"My first impression is… I don't like you guys."

All three kids looked crestfallen, though one simply looked more agitated than he had been before.

'_Uchiha Sasuke…'_ Kakashi's eyes panned over to the blond member of his new team. _'And that must be the Monado that Hokage-sama told me about. We'll see what he can do with it.'_

"Meet me on the roof in five minutes," he added before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

><p>"Let's begin with introducing yourselves."<p>

"What is it you want to know?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies…" Kakashi waved a hand around lazily to depict his lack of interest. "That kind of thing."

"Why don't you go first, sensei?" Naruto requested.

"Okay then. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't feel like telling you my likes or dislikes." The three genin frowned at this. "My dreams for the future… hmm. And I have a lot of hobbies."

'_At least we got his name,'_ mused the three genin.

"Now it's your turn," Kakashi continued. "Let's start with you on the right."

Naruto grinned. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup ramen and I really like it when Iruka-sensei pays for my ramen. I also like it when the Monado actually work right and I hate when it doesn't."

The other two genin glanced at the sword sitting next to the blond. _'The Monado… where did the idiot get a weapon like that?'_ they thought.

"I also dislike the time it takes for ramen it to cook. My dream is to master the Monado and use it to surpass all the previous Hokage so that everyone in the village will acknowledge me!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened ever so slightly. _'If what Hokage-sama said about that sword is true… he just might do it.'_

"Hobbies?" Naruto continued. "Pranks, I guess."

'…_or not.'_ "Next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." The black-haired boy showed no interest in the conversation, though Kakashi had noticed him glancing at the Monado a few times. "There are many things I dislike and really nothing that I like." The girl visibly deflated at this. "Dreams… That is just a word. What I have is an ambition: to resurrect the Uchiha clan and kill a certain person."

'_So cool!'_

'_He better not mean me…'_

'_As I thought…'_

"Okay. Lastly the girl…"

"My name is Haruno Sakura. What I like is… well, the person I like…" She trailed off while glancing at Sasuke. "My dream for the future…?" _'Marriage!'_ "What I dislike is Naruto!" A dark cloud hovered over said blond's head as he cried. "My hobby is…" Another glance at Sasuke.

'_Girls these days are more interested in love…'_ "Okay, that's it for the introductions. Tomorrow you'll start your first assignment as shinobi."

"What kind of assignment?!" Naruto asked.

"Survival training."

"Training?"

"Why is our first assignment more training?" Sakura questioned. "We had enough of that at the academy."

"This won't be any normal training. I'll be your opponent." The group sat in silence for a moment. "And there's one more thing different about this training."

"What is it?"

"Out of the twenty-seven students who graduated from the academy, only nine will be chosen to become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy for a whole year." Naruto looked murderous, Sakura looked completely shocked, and Sasuke looked ever so slightly nervous.

"Haha, I knew you guys would freak out when I said that."

"How come?!" Naruto yelled. "We worked so hard to get here! What was the point of graduating?!"

'_I understand how he feels,'_ Sakura and Sasuke thought.

"That was just to select those who have a greater chance of becoming genin," Kakashi replied. "If that's all, then we'll meet tomorrow in training ground seven. Bring all of the shinobi tools you have. You'll need to take me seriously in order to pass."

'_I can't lose now!'_ Naruto told himself.

"Oh, and one more thing," Kakashi said before pushing away from the railing he was leaning against. "Don't eat breakfast tomorrow. If you do… you just might throw up."

* * *

><p>"Come here and fight me!"<p>

Kakashi stared at the idiot standing before him. "You're a bit off," he muttered. _'The others hid themselves well. Not that I don't know where they are, but it's better than rushing out here and shouting.'_

Naruto pulled the Monado off his back and brandished it at his opponent. "The only thing that's a bit off…" Naruto focused as the Monado opened to reveal its blue energy blade. "…Is your hair cut!" Naruto launched himself forward.

'_That weapon uses pure chakra!'_ Sasuke barely kept himself from yelling out in surprise.

'_So that's its true form,'_ Kakashi calmly watched the reckless boy. "I was going to teach you about shinobi taijutsu, but if you're going to use a weapon like that…" Naruto stopped his charge as he saw Kakashi reaching into the pouch on his hip.

He nearly fell to the ground when he noticed Kakashi had pulled out an orange book. No weapon in sight.

"What's wrong? Hurry up and attack!" Kakashi jeered as his eye scanned across the pages.

"But… why are you reading that book?"

"I want to know what happens next of course." Naruto really did hit the floor on that one. "But don't worry; it won't make a different against genin like you."

It took a moment for Naruto to register that comment as he picked himself up. A split second later, Naruto looked murderous once more and ran full tilt at Kakashi. "I'll kick your ass!"

Kakashi dodged easily under Naruto's first attack. Not wasting a moment, Naruto planted his foot and jumped back, aiming to take the man's head off.

Even thought he was only a foot or so away from his target, his motion slowed down and the world turn grey and blurry for a moment. Naruto saw his second attack miss and Kakashi's counter attack. _'Another one of those freaky visions!'_

When the world returned to normal, Naruto's attack missed once more and Kakashi reappeared directly behind him, holding his fingers in what appeared to be the tiger hand seal.

"A shinobi should never get caught from behind, idiot…"

"Huh?"

"Konoha Hiden Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!"

Knowing the attack was coming, Naruto slammed the blade of the Monado straight down into the ground and jumped above Kakashi. Even from above, Naruto could see the shock in Kakashi's visible eye. Using the Monado as leverage, Naruto slammed his feet down towards Kakashi, only to pass straight through as the jounin exploded into a cloud of smoke.

'_That wasn't a bad move,'_ Sasuke had to admit. _'He dodged it with perfect timing. It's too bad he couldn't predict Kakashi's __kawarimi no jutsu__.'_

Naruto quickly removed his weapon from the ground and looked around for his opponent only to find him standing a short distance away seemingly reading his book. Kakashi was actually breathing a little heavier than normal. Naruto's counterattack had nearly taken him by surprise.

'_How did he read my attack? He shouldn't have had time to dodge it.'_

"Not bad at all, Naruto," Kakashi praised him. "You almost caught me off guard there."

"Hehe, not bad yourself," Naruto shot back. "You still dodged me, though. I guess I'll have to turn things up a notch."

Naruto focused his chakra the same way he had done against Mizuki. He hadn't noticed it last time, caught up in his anger at the man, but this time he saw the Monado's blade turn orange and the symbol on the hilt change.

'_That symbol,'_ Kakashi mused. _'So the rumors are true.'_

"If one attack isn't enough, how about one thousand?" Naruto shouted. "Monado Bunshin!"

A large cloud of smoke erupted around Naruto. Kakashi actually seemed wary of what may pop out. He had heard from the Hokage about Naruto summoning over a thousand shadow clones. Even as a jounin against a genin, those weren't odds he was willing to bet on.

Kakashi nearly fell over as the smoke cleared to show only seven clones standing next to the original.

"Huh what?!" the original Naruto yelled. "What happened to the thousand clones I tried to summon?"

"I guess you still don't have the hang of it, boss," one of the clones replied. "Maybe the other night was just a fluke."

'_His chakra control is terrible,'_ Kakashi realized. _'He must have created a thousand by accident when he flooded the jutsu with chakra against Mizuki. It seems like the Monado helps stabilize things a bit, but it can only help so much for an idiot like Naruto.'_

"So much for a thousand attacks," he jeered. _'I'll give him credit, though. Kage Bunshin should be impossible for a kid his age. I suppose it's the Kyuubi adding onto his- !'_

Kakashi's thoughts were cut short when he was suddenly grappled from behind. To his surprise, there was a Naruto clone gripped fiercely on his back.

"Haha," the clone laughed, "I can make the clone appear anywhere in a pretty wide range around me. You were so distracted by the big cloud you didn't notice me right behind you!"

'_This kid… maybe he's not as much of an idiot as people think. Still…'_

'_Since when was Naruto this good?'_ Sasuke asked. _'First that dodge earlier and now clones that are more than just illusions… and he even caught Kakashi by surprise again.'_

'_Naruto's way cooler than I thought,'_ Sakura thought.

"Nowhere to run this time!" Naruto called as he and his clones converged on the immobile Kakashi. The Monado slashed right through Kakashi only to reveal that Naruto had cleaved one of his own clones in two before it disappeared in a blast of smoke along with the one that had been grappling it.

"What?!"

'_This is going nowhere,'_ Sasuke complained. _'He can't read Kakashi's __kawarimi__ at all. He had good moves, but Kakashi's always a step ahead of him no matter what.'_

Naruto quickly looked around but only saw his clones around him. He had made eight, the seven Kakashi had seen plus the one that appeared in his blind spot. Now there were only six clones.

"One of you is really Kakashi using henge no jutsu, aren't you!" he yelled.

"If you just dispel all the clones, you'll find out which one is Kakashi, boss!"

"Great idea!" Naruto replied. The clones all disappeared, leaving Naruto standing by himself in the field. "That was a terrible idea!"

'_Idiot.'_

'_So uncool…'_

* * *

><p>Kakashi couldn't help but be disappointed in his students. Naruto and Sasuke had displayed decent skill, but neither managed to get a bell.<p>

Sasuke had impressed the jounin by using a fire jutsu, something that shouldn't be possible for most genin. In the end, Sasuke came close but couldn't manage to actually take the bell.

Naruto had noticed a bell lying on the ground and dashed for it, only to be caught by Kakashi's trap. He then noticed a lunchbox sitting behind some bushes near the log posts and went to go take it, thinking Kakashi wouldn't notice. Of course he was caught before he could even take a bite. His punishment was being tied to the post while Kakashi ate. The Monado was perched on top of the log.

Sakura went down instantly thanks to a genjutsu.

She was sadly the weakest of the trio so far, aside from her academy grades.

'_Sadly, the academy is very different from real life,'_ Kakashi reminded himself. _'Still… those two are the most impressive genin to ever take this test, so I'll give them another shot.'_

After a long-winded explanation on the true purpose of the test being teamwork (which had been spurred on by Sasuke trying to attack Kakashi again) Kakashi let Sasuke and Sakura eat lunch while Naruto looked on.

"Eat your lunch and then come after me one last time," he said. "Come at me together or you'll never make it. Oh, and don't give any to Naruto."

"What? Why?!"

"It's punishment for trying to eat on your own. If either of you give Naruto any food, you will fail immediately." A demonic aura seemed to surround their sensei for a moment. "Is that clear?"

Finally he left them to eat. Naruto's stomach grumbled almost constantly even though he persisted that he wasn't hungry. After a few minutes, Sasuke finally caved in and handed his lunch to the blond.

"Sasuke-kun, sensei just said-"

"I don't sense him anywhere near," Sasuke explained. "If Naruto doesn't eat, he'll probably be too weak to help. We have to work together to get the bells."

Sakura looked on, switching between Naruto and Sasuke before finally deciding to give her food up as well.

"I have to admit you two have a better chance than me of getting the bells," she said with her head bowed, "but I'll help however I can!"

Naruto blushed and smiled. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

Just then, a massive blast of smoke erupted from behind the memorial stone on front of them.

"YOU GUYS…!"

"What?!"

The smoke cleared instantly to reveal Kakashi smiling down at them through his mask.

"…Pass."

"Pass?" Sakura echoed frantically. "How?"

"You guys are the first to ever pass my test," Kakashi explained. "It's near impossible for a single genin to take a bell from an elite jounin like me, but all the upstarts always think they can do it on their own." Naruto and Sasuke looked away at this. "As for why you guys made it, it's cause you shared your lunch."

"But you said-"

"You know," he interrupted Sakura's comment, "those who don't follow the rules are considered trash in the ninja world." Silence reigned over the team for a moment. "But… those who don't take care of their comrades are even worse than trash."

'_We did it!'_

"That ends the survival training! All of you pass! Starting tomorrow, we'll be taking on missions as Team 7!"

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 3 End<em>

_I'm not super happy with how this turned out. It's made me realize that I didn't change enough from canon to leave in a lot of the scenes. Stuff that isn't changed by the Monado's inclusion, like the teamwork speech, will usually be glossed over. That's also what happened with Konohamaru and Ebisu. It wasn't important enough to include, so I skipped over it. Konohamaru will probably appear for comic relief later as he does in canon._

_Konoha Hiden Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennen Goroshi__ – Leaf Village Secret Technique: 1000 Years of Death_

_Kawarimi__ - Substitution_


	4. The Land of Waves

"Are you sure this thing is a sword, runt? It just looks like some super fancy clubbing stick!"

"It's called the Monado, you _super_ drunk idiot! And yes, it's a sword. It's an awesome sword that only I can use!"

Not for the first time since forming their team, Sasuke sent a wary glance at the weapon on Naruto's back. It was an oddity the likes of which he had never seen before. Sure, he remembered a few days when Naruto had brought the weapon to the academy some years ago, but he had entirely forgotten about it since Naruto hadn't been seen with it for years.

'_Where did he get something like that?'_ Sasuke wondered for what must have been the thousandth time. _'And what does he mean he's the only one that can use it? How does he even know something like that?'_

Sasuke had asked Kakashi about it during their team training (which usually consisted of boring practice fights seeing as their sensei was almost as lazy as Shikamaru). The jounin told Sasuke that he didn't know much; all he knew was that someone from a far off land had given the Monado to Naruto as a gift and then disappeared. This just created more questions in Sasuke's mind.

'_Why would someone from a far off land come all the way here to give such an amazing weapon to a dead last like Naruto? And how did they even know about him? He has no family from what I can tell, and there are no records of an Uzumaki clan from what I can find in the library.'_

After that first day of survival training, Naruto had been able to control the Monado better. He could consistently summon dozens of shadow clones with it, though he said many times he felt like it should have been more.

"I'm tellin' you it really is a super powerful sword!"

"And I'm tellin' you it's just a big metal stick!"

Aside from the daily training exercises (if one could call them that) Team 7 had also been taking on missions from the Hokage. Unfortunately for everyone involved, these missions consisted almost exclusively of babysitting, walking dogs, and repeatedly capturing the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat.

To no one's surprise, Naruto eventually got fed up with these rather dull missions and demanded a tougher one. The Hokage responded by giving them a C-rank missions to protect Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Waves. Tazuna was a brash, somewhat annoying man who constantly drank from a bottle of what they all assumed to be sake at his hip.

This was why the team was walking down the road towards the Land of Waves with the bridge builder in tow. Naruto and Tazuna had hit it off splendidly and were constantly at each others' throats over one thing or another.

Sasuke glanced again at the Monado, but turned his attention to Naruto when he noticed a strange look cross his teammate's face. Suddenly the blond jogged ahead to where Sasuke could see a water puddle on the side of the road.

"Aww man, I love splashing in these things!" he yelled as he jumped into the puddle and splashed water everywhere. "The look on peoples' faces when you get them with the water is priceless!" He continued splashing as everyone caught up. "It's too bad there hasn't been any rain lately."

Sasuke barely caught the look Naruto sent at Kakashi, but he definitely noticed Kakashi raise an eyebrow in response, before nodding his head ever so slightly.

'_What was that about?'_ Sasuke wondered. _'Wait, if there hasn't been any rain, how is there-'_ A look of comprehension crossed Sasuke's face and he threw a glance at Kakashi as well, signaling that he knew about the threat as well.

"Damn it Naruto, we're on an important mission! Grow up for once, will you?!"

'_Looks like Sakura's still clueless, though.'_

Sasuke felt a presence behind the group, but he noticed Kakashi throw a glance at him and Naruto.

'_He wants us to handle it… lazy sensei…'_

A spiked chain wrapped around Kakashi and everyone turned to find two shinobi with metal masks and the chain connected to a gauntlet on their arms.

"One down."

The two shinobi pulled and the chain shredded right through Kakashi's body. In an instant, the two moved behind Naruto.

"Two down."

"Think again, assholes!"

The Monado flared to life in his hands and he swung behind him, fending off the attackers. They backed up to avoid the hit, but they failed to notice Sasuke in the air behind them ready to strike. Seeing his chance, Naruto made a horizontal slice just as Sasuke landed on their backs. Sasuke grabbed the gauntlets and held them down, allowing Naruto cut right through them.

"These brats…!"

With his hands still on the gauntlets, Sasuke propped himself up and kicked the two ninja in their faces, launching them backward. Unfortunately for Sasuke, backward happened to be the direction that Sakura and Tazuna were. Everything had happened so quickly, Sakura hadn't even thought to take out a kunai to defend herself (and their client) with.

They landed and rushed towards Sakura and the bridge builder. Sasuke was too far away to react, but Naruto focused his power and readied his attack.

"Oh no you don't! Monado Bunsh-!"

Just before they could reach Sakura, Kakashi appeared and caught both of them with a clothesline, knocking them both out cold.

* * *

><p>"Good job, guys. Especially you, Naruto and Sasuke."<p>

Naruto grinned happily and Sasuke smirked a bit.

'_I guess I am really am the weakest link on this team…'_

"Sakura."

"Yes?"

Kakashi looked down at the only female member of the team. For a moment it looked like he would be angry, but he smiled, though she could only tell by the way he closed his visible eye. "Great job protecting Tazuna-san."

"Oh! Of course!"

"Speaking of which…" Kakashi turned to face the two assassins that had been tied up nearby. One of them was still unconscious, but the other was listening intently. "These two are chuunin from the Village Hidden in the Mist."

"How did you know we were there?" the conscious one asked.

Kakashi laughed. "Just like Naruto said… It hasn't rained anywhere near here in a week."

The assassin clicked his tongue. "Beaten by a couple rookies…"

"But if you knew that," Tazuna started, "why did you let the kids fight?"

"Well, Naruto and Sasuke both let me know they had detected them… though Naruto was less silent about it." Kakashi blinked and looked down at his blond charge. "Come to think of it, how did you detect them, Naruto?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, the Monado showed me a vision as we were walking up to the puddle," he explained.

"A vision?"

"Yeah, the Monado shows me the future sometimes!" Everyone looked skeptical. "It did the same thing back during the survival training; I dodged your attack, remember sensei?"

Recognition dawned on what was visible of Kakashi's face. "Now that you mention it, that would explain that time." He waved it off a moment later. "More importantly, I let them attack because there was something I needed to find out about these two." He sent a lazy look at their client. "I needed to see who these ninja were after."

"How do you mean?"

"Meaning… where they after you or one of us? We didn't hear anything about shinobi being after you. We were simply told to protect you from thieves. This was supposed to be a simple protection mission until the bridge was completed, but now this is at least a B-rank mission.

"I'm sure you have your reasons, but it causes problems for the village when you lie about the details." He looked around at the three genin. "This might be a bit too much for them."

"Didn't you see us handle those chuunin?!" Naruto shouted. "We can handle this mission just fine!"

Kakashi studied the blond for a moment. "Most likely whoever is after Tazuna-san will send a jounin next time instead of just chuunin."

"Then I'll kick the jounin's ass right back to their village! As long as I have the Monado I can predict their movements and move out of the way! They can't win if they never hit me, right?"

"I wonder about that…"

"Well fine, you guys head back to Konoha then!" Naruto shouted. "I'm gonna finish the mission and take the old drunk all the way to the Land of Waves! There's no way I'm gonna run off scared now."

Kakashi palmed his face before sighing and looking at his two other students. "Are you guys okay with continuing?"

"Yeah, I wanted to keep going anyway," Sasuke answered.

"I'm fine with it if you all are," Sakura said.

"Well Tazuna-san, it looks like you're stuck with us," Kakashi said as the group continued forward.

Tazuna stood speechless for a moment before smiling. "Super thanks…"

* * *

><p>It turned out that Tazuna was being targeted by a man named Gatou. Gatou had used ninjas and thugs to take over dozens of businesses and even countries. He was sucking the Land of Waves dry, trying to get as much money as he could from the region before leaving it to die and moving on to his next conquest.<p>

The bridge that Tazuna was building would reignite the economy and help push Gatou out, so he had hired shinobi to take the bridge builder down. He hadn't counted on Team 7 getting in the way, though.

"Everyone get down!"

Kakashi dropped to the ground as a gigantic sword flew through the air right where their heads had been. Sasuke had pulled Tazuna out of the way and Sakura had tackled Naruto to the ground.

An instant later, a tall man was standing on the handle of the sword, now embedded in a nearby tree. Team 7 looked up at the man and could tell immediately that he was on a different level than the two they had fought before.

"Well… if it isn't the Demon of the Hidden Mist… Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi held an arm out to signal his team to stay back. "Everybody, leave this one to me. He's on a whole other level."

"Kakashi of the Sharingan…" the new enemy grunted through his own face mask. "Sorry, but the old man is mine."

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san," Kakashi ordered as he lifted up his headband to reveal his left eye. "I'll fight him."

Naruto looked at Kakashi as he got into position with Sakura and Sasuke protecting their client. Rather than a normal eye, Naruto could see a red iris with three black tomoe surrounding the pupil.

The world stopped and another vision came to Naruto. Unlike his previous visions, he didn't recognize the area that he could see now. Naruto could tell he was on the ground or floor of wherever they were and Sasuke was standing over him, facing away. He could barely see what looked like mirrors all around them, but what he noticed was the insane amount of needles covering Sasuke's body.

"Why?" Naruto heard himself yell. "Why did you save me?! I didn't ask for your help!"

"I don't know," Sasuke answered feebly. "My body just moved on its own… idiot."

Sasuke fell backwards into Naruto's arms. He was bleeding all over. "I told myself," he whispered, "I wouldn't die until I killed my brother." Sasuke's eyes closed slowly. "Don't you die too…"

Suddenly everything returned to normal and Naruto gasped heavily. _'What the hell was that?'_ he yelled in his mind. _'That wasn't like any of the other visions I've had. Could that… Could that be something that happens further in the future?'_

"Now, let's end all the talking…"

Naruto snapped back to attention. _'Not good. I was completely out of it for a minute there.'_

"I have to kill that old man."

Naruto tightened his grip on the Monado and kept his senses up, waiting for some kind of attack.

"But it seems I have to kill you first, Kakashi!"

Zabuza pushed away from the tree, pulling his sword with him. He landed on top of the nearby lake. He held his arms in a strange fashion that none of the genin recognized, but they knew it had to be for a jutsu of some kind.

"Ninpo: Kirigakure no jutsu."

Thick mist spread out from around Zabuza and covered the area. In just a few seconds, it had become difficult to even see a few feet away.

"I can't see a thing!" Naruto hissed. "Where did all this mist come from?"

"In the Hidden Mist, Zabuza was known as the foremost expert of the silent killing technique," Kakashi explained. "He was so good that most people didn't even realize they were dead until it was too late."

"Heheh! Don't talk about me like I'm dead, Kakashi!" Zabuza's voice echoed from all around them at once.

Complete silence reigned over them all for almost a minute, though it seemed to last for hours.

"Eight choices," Zabuza's voice finally called from the mist. "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle, jugular, brain, kidneys, heart."

'_What's this guy on about?'_

"Eight choices for certain death… Which one should I go after?"

A chill ran over the entire group, but no one made a move. Naruto could feel someone behind him shaking with fear. _'Sakura-chan must be terrified out of her mind. Can't really blame her; I am, too.'_

"Don't worry, Sasuke," Kakashi suddenly said. "I'll protect you guys even if it kills me." He turned just enough that they could see his eyes closed to show he was smiling. "I don't let my precious people die."

For a split second they could feel a sense of security from Kakashi's declaration.

"It's over."

Zabuza appeared suddenly in the middle of their formation. Before he could even make a move to swing his gigantic sword, Kakashi had appeared and shoved a kunai into the assassin's abdomen. Everyone fell away from the two jounin as blood leaked from Zabuza's- _'That's not blood!'_

"Sensei, behind you!"

Zabuza appeared once more and cleaved Kakashi in two. Sakura shrieked even as Kakashi's body dissolved into water, revealing his water clone technique. A kunai appeared at his throat and Zabuza twitched slightly.

"Don't move!" Kakashi ordered. "It's over."

Zabuza just laughed. "It's over?" he echoed. "You don't get it. There's no way you can beat me if all you do is copy me like a monkey." A shadow crept over Kakashi's shoulder. "I'm not that easy!"

Kakashi slashed through the Zabuza in front of him, revealing another water clone. "That one's a fake, too!"

Zabuza swung full with his great sword, but Kakashi ducked underneath. The momentum carried the sword until it dug into the ground, but Zabuza used that momentum to turn his body around and launch a devastating kick to Kakashi's stomach which sent the Cyclops into the lake.

'_What?! Why is the water so heavy?'_

"Suirou no jutsu!"

"What!?"

"Water is my specialty," Zabuza explained. "I have you trapped in an inescapable prison. Now there's nothing stopping me from taking out those three pests!"

Another clone rose up from the lake and stepped onto the shore in front of the genin. It even had a copy of Zabuza's sword on its back. "Heheheh, you must think wearing those headbands makes you a real shinobi!" The clone glared at them. "A true shinobi is someone who has stared death in the face countless times and lived."

The mist began to thicken up again. "Only when you're good enough to be listed in my bingo book can you call yourself a shinobi." The mist completely obscured their view. "You are not shinobi."

'_He disappeared!'_

Naruto barely had time to think before he was sent skidding backwards. His headband had been knocked off and the clone stepped on it. "Brats."

"Just go!" Kakashi shouted. "Take Tazuna and run away! You have no chance of beating him, but as long as he's keeping me trapped he can't move! His water clone can't move very far from his real body so take Tazuna and go!"

Naruto gripped the Monado and stared at the imposing ninja before him.

'_This is a jounin. A real ninja. How can I…'_

Zabuza stared back and the image of a demon hovered over his back.

'_Can I beat him?'_

"_Of course you can."_ Naruto blinked. _"The Monado bends to your will."_ He looked down at the blade in his hand.

'_Is the Monado… talking to me?'_

He looked up at Zabuza again, but the threatening image of the demon had disappeared. He could see past the water clone to where the real Zabuza was still holding Kakashi prisoner.

'_I caught Kakashi-sensei off guard with the Monado before,'_ Naruto told himself. _'Zabuza doesn't know I can see the future, so I have to bet on that!'_

He picked himself up and brandished the Monado. "Monado," he whispered, "lend me your power." The blade came to life in his hands and the blue light pushed the mist back into the surrounding trees.

"That's a rather intriguing sword you have there, brat. What's it do?"

Naruto chuckled. "Like I'll just up and tell you, asshole!" He rushed forward, holding the Monado back for a side swipe. As he ran forward, he saw a vision of Zabuza's counterattack. At the last moment, Naruto ducked under an attack and swiped at the clone's feet. It jumped away, allowing Naruto to reclaim his headband.

'_How did he dodge that attack?'_ more than one person thought.

"Hey, eyebrow-less freak," Naruto called as he tied his headband in place. "I'm the ninja who will be Hokage! Uzumaki Naruto!" He pointed the Monado at the real Zabuza. "Put that in your bingo book and shove it up your ass!"

He rushed forward again and prepared another attack. The clone responded by throwing his foot into Naruto's gut, but the attack never connected. Naruto moved to the side at the last second again and swung his weapon only to have it blocked by the clone's sword.

'_Well, I suppose hoping it would cut through steels was just wishful thinking.'_

The blade turned orange and Zabuza's eye twitched. "Monado Bunshin!"

'_Monado…?'_

Dozens of Naruto clones appeared around them and Zabuza quickly found himself smothered in the mob. _'These are shadow clones!' _"Impressive, but not good enough!" He slashed in a wide arc, clearing out all of the clones, but the real Naruto was nowhere in sight. He could clearly see the bridge builder and the other two genin not far off.

"Where'd that brat go?"

"Right above you, no-brows!"

The water clone jumped to the side to avoid the oncoming strike, only to find Naruto right behind him. "Shi-!" The clone's sword met the Monado once more, but it had been caught off balance by Naruto's trick and had no way to defend itself against the fist that came through the back of its head.

Water fell to the ground as Naruto heaved a deep sigh of relief.

"I underestimated you, brat."

'_Oh right that was just a clone…'_

"How on earth did you do that, Naruto?" Sakura whispered.

"It was the power of the Monado."

"I think I'll kill you and take that sword for myself, boy," Zabuza declared.

"You're not the first person to tell me that," Naruto shot back. "And the last guy that said it got beat to a pulp, so you're not in really good company there."

Zabuza began to chuckle. It began soft yet dark, but built up quickly until he was laughing so hard he couldn't even keep his eyes on them. "Hahahaa, you guys are more interesting than I thought!" he yelled.

A dozen water clones emerged from the lake and stalked forward.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Naruto cursed. "It took all of that just to beat one clone, and now there's a bunch of 'em!"

"_The Monado is yours to wield. Its power is yours to control."_

The light from the Monado intensified and the symbol on the hilt changed to 斬which means "to slash."

"Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred, it doesn't matter how many clones you make!" Naruto cried. "I'll take them all down and you with them!" The Monado's blade stretched until it reached above the treetops and he swung it down with as much power as he could.

"Monado… BUSTER!"

Zabuza barely managed to pull his hand away from the prison before the gigantic blade cut through it. The shockwave pushed him away and knocked the water clones back, dispelling them where they landed.

Water fell from the sky for a short moment as the Monado returned to normal and then the blade disappeared altogether.

Before he could think about what he had just done, Naruto fell to the ground unconscious.

* * *

><p>He woke up in a place he didn't recognize. In fact, he couldn't really see anything around him at all. It was like he was sitting in a room with no walls but the floor just extended forever in all directions. It was an endless expanse of nothingness that surrounded him. And then he finally noticed the man standing above him.<p>

"Hello, Naruto."

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 4 End<em>

_First things first, I want to talk about the change in Naruto's attitude. Rather than being scared, he was more confident because he knew about the attack beforehand. He also gained confidence during the Zabuza clone bit because he trusted in the Monado's power. On that note as well, I took some liberty in assuming that water clones cannot communicate telepathically with the original user, and they also have much less power than the user so it wouldn't be nearly as difficult for Naruto to get a Zabuza clone off balance with a surprise, even one as rudimentary as that._

_Not sure how everyone feels about me including the kanji symbols for the Monado powers, but I think it's a cool idea so I'll keep doing it for now at least._

_Suirou no jutsu – Water Prison technique_

_Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu - Ninja Art: Hidden Mist technique_


	5. Questions, Answers & More Questions

"Hello Naruto."

The young boy looked up at the man standing before him. He was wearing a blue jacket of some sort. Naruto had never seen clothing like that before. The man also had silver hair and although he was smiling, Naruto could tell this man was sharp and very smart.

"You may call me Alvis."

"Alvis?" he echoed.

"Yes. It is a name I used at one point." Alvis reached down to grab Naruto's arm and lifted the boy to his feet.

"Alvis… where are we?"

"There are two ways to answer that question," Alvis replied. "The simple answer is that we are in your mind."

"In my mind? How is that possible?"

Alvis laughed a bit. "You're a strange one to be asking that question."

"How do you mean?"

Alvis raised a hand and seemed to pick something out of the air. In an instant, the endless expanse crashed down around them only to be replaced by what looked like a dark sewer. Water came up to his ankles and Naruto shivered a bit.

"The more complicated answer," Alvis said as he walked forward. Naruto could see large iron bars like a jail cell extending from the floor to the ceiling, some fifty meters high. "Is that we are inside the seal created by the Fourth Hokage."

"That makes even less sense!" Naruto promptly shouted.

"As I said, it is a more complicated answer," Alvis leaned his back against one of the gigantic iron bars. "Quite obviously we are not inside the seal itself. I would say this is a representation of the seal called up by your mind."

As expected, the explanation went completely over Naruto's head.

"Let us just say that we are inside the seal, yes?"

"Okay then." Naruto still looked incredibly confused, but a sudden realization hit him. "But then… if this is the Fourth's seal… this cage must be-"

"**I was wondering when you would notice, brat."**

A wave of pure malice hit Naruto a moment later, so concentrated it felt like he had rammed into a brick wall. He doubled over before looking back up to see Alvis completely unaffected.

"You…" Naruto struggled to speak. "You're the Kyuubi!"

"**Indeed, and you are the miserable brat that insufferable Yondaime sealed me in."**

The fox's voice was deep, deeper than Naruto had ever thought a voice could be. It grated against his ears, as if it actually hurt to even listen to it speak.

With no notion of bravado, Naruto admitted freely that he was terrified by the beast before him. Through the bars, he could see the fox's glowing red eyes, and in the shadows he could barely make out the motion of nine tails lazily swinging to and fro.

"**You are right to fear me, young one,"** the fox said.

"The fox cannot harm you here," Alvis explained. Naruto had almost forgotten he was there. "The seal prevents the fox from affecting you, to an extent."

"To what extent?"

"I am not certain, but you should be able to call upon the fox's chakra-"

"**INSOLENCE! As if I would simply allow this brat to-"**

Alvis turned his sharp gaze to the Kyuubi and the fox immediately backed down.

"Okay, so I understand why the fox is here," Naruto said. Alvis turned back to face the young man. "But why are you here, Alvis? If this is inside my mind, how did you get here?"

"We have much to discuss, Naruto," he replied. "But perhaps we should return to our previous surroundings."

"**You insolent br-"**

The fox's anger was cut off as the endless expanse from before returned around them. "The fox will not be able to interrupt us here. I thought it would be good for you to meet it, though. Under better circumstances than would happen otherwise."

"Otherwise?" Naruto echoed. "Okay, this is starting to piss me off! Who are you, Alvis?"

"I am a remnant of a world that has long since disappeared." A grassy field suddenly appeared beneath their feet. Naruto jumped away at first. "When the god of the new world no longer needed me, he sealed me away for many years. I knew why, though. He needed to keep me safe so that I would be passed on to another who needed my power."

Alvis stared at Naruto. "Shulk passed my power on to you because he knew that you would need it."

Naruto's eyes shot open. "Shulk… but-"

"I am Monado."

Alvis had said those words as if they explained everything, but it just created dozens more questions for Naruto. "Wait… you're the Monado? How is that even possible?"

"Let us say that I am the spirit within the Monado," Alvis replied. "In reality, it is quite a bit more complicated than that, but I shall leave it there for now."

Naruto stared dumbfounded as the man. He really had no way to respond to this revelation. Alvis had shown up all of a sudden and dropped this bombshell on him right in the middle of-

"Wait, what about the fight with Zabuza?"

"No need to worry," Alvis answered quickly. "Your sensei dispatched of Zabuza very handily after you freed him from Zabuza's trap. You fell unconscious after your attack and your teammates seem to have been taking care of you since."

The young boy breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was really afraid that wasn't going to work against him." A sudden thought came to Naruto when he thought about the attack he had used. "Wait a sec, how did I even know how to do that in the first place?"

Alvis chuckled a bit. "How did you know you could use the Monado with your Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" Naruto didn't have an answer for that. "The Monado responds to its wielder's desire. Your desire was to defeat Mizuki with the new technique you had learned, and so the Monado worked for you." Naruto seemed to catch on.

"So when I wanted to free Kakashi-sensei from the water prison…"

"The Monado made that possible," Alvis finished.

"Wow, the Monado is pretty cool, huh?" Naruto flashed a grin.

Alvis smirked. "Yes, it is a rather unique weapon." He walked forward and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I should warn you, however, the overusing the Monado's power would be not be good for you at the present time. Using the Monado just now caused you to fall unconscious due to the massive strain on your chakra."

Suddenly Naruto felt strange, like he was losing consciousness again.

"Our time here seems to be at an end, Naruto. Remember what I told you. The Monado bends to your will."

* * *

><p>"WAHHH‼"<p>

Naruto jumped up in his bed as a loud yell rang from somewhere in the house.

Wait… house?

"Kakashi-sensei? Sakura-chan? Where are you guys?"

"Quit yelling."

Naruto looked to his side to find Sasuke sitting there. He had one leg pulled up on his chair and he looked like he had been there for a while.

"Sasuke… where are we?"

"This is the bridge-builder's house. We carried you here after you passed out."

"Oh yeah, what happened with that Zabuza guy?"

Sasuke's eyes darkened. "Kakashi-sensei… took care of him using his Sharingan."

"All by himself?" Naruto grinned, oblivious to Sasuke's concern. "Wow, Sensei is pretty cool, huh?"

Sasuke just grimaced. _'How on earth did he get a Sharingan? Only the Uchiha clan-'_

"I heard Naruto yelling. Is he awake?"

Sakura walked in carrying a glass of water. "Yeah, I'm all good now, Sakura-chan." He eyed the glass of water. "Is that for me?"

Sakura flinched. '_Actually I was getting this for Sasuke since it was his turn to keep on eye on Naruto…'_ "Uh, yeah, I figured you'd be thirsty when you woke up."

"Sakura, who was that yelling downstairs a moment ago?" Sasuke asked.

The pinkette flushed red. "I was… trying to look under Sensei's mask…" Naruto doubled over laughing and Sasuke looked mildly intrigued. "But he woke up just as I was about to see."

* * *

><p>"What's up, Sensei? Something's been bothering you for a while now."<p>

Kakashi looked around at his students and Tazuna's family. They were all seated around the dinner table. Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, had cooked up some dinner, and Kakashi had to admit that she did a good job considering what the ingredients had looked like beforehand.

"It's just something about the fight with Zabuza," he explained. They had explained to Naruto about the hunter that had come to finish off and carry the missing-nin's body away. "Hunter-nins are supposed to dispose of the body on site, right where the kill is made."

"Dispose?" Naruto echoed.

"Right, when missing-nins escape, they pose a risk of leaking secrets about the village they're from," Kakashi lectured. "Things such as chakra types, medicinal herbs, and other information can be leaked by missing-nin even after death. It's the job of the hunter-nin to immediately destroy the corpse as soon as the kill is confirmed so that none of the information gets out to other villages. In fact, even speaking with us so casually like that hunter did was rather strange…"

"So what are you getting at, Sensei?"

Kakashi leered at his students as Tazuna and his daughter listened in. "Rather than disposing of the corpse on site, the hunter took Zabuza away."

"Couldn't he have been trying to shield us from watching that?" Sakura asked.

"Hunters wouldn't care about something like that."

"Maybe he didn't want us to watch how they dispose of their bodies since we're from a different village," Naruto suggested.

"If that were the case, he should have killed Zabuza and taken him away without showing himself," Kakashi answered. "No, something isn't right here at all. And the way he killed Zabuza is what worries me the most."

"Senbon needles…" Sasuke muttered. Suddenly a terrified look crossed his face. "No way…"

"Exactly."

"What are you saying?" Tazuna finally asked.

"More than likely… Zabuza is still alive."

Naruto wanted to shout, but his world suddenly turned to the greyed-out slow motion world that meant he was having a vision. Once more he could see himself and Sasuke standing inside a dome of mirrors. The image morphed and in its place he could see Kakashi with his hand shoved through the heart of a boy wearing a hunter mask with Zabuza posed to slice through the both of them.

Naruto gasped loudly and fell over as he returned to the real world.

"Naruto, what are you-"

"Kakashi-sensei, you're right! Zabuza's still alive and the hunter is working with him!"

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "How could…" He then remembered what Naruto had said about the Monado giving him visions of the future. "Tazuna-san, could you take your family into the other room for a moment? I need a private word with my team."

"Why bother?" a shrill voice suddenly yelled. "Why are you even trying? Gatou will just kill all of you anyway!"

"Inari, that's no way to speak to our guests!" Tsunami chided. "Come here and let me give you a lesson in manners."

"Leave me alone! It won't matter once Gatou kills us all anyway!" Inari ran up the stairs and disappeared around the corner.

Tsunami sighed and apologized before going after him. Tazuna stepped into the kitchen and they could hear him beginning to wash the dishes.

Now that they were alone Kakashi looked at Naruto. "What you told us before, about the Monado," he began. "Is it true?"

"Yeah, it shows me the future. When it happens everything looks really weird and I can't really see clearly." Naruto was waving his hands around as if his gestures would help make sense of what he was saying. "It's usually clearer when it's closer to what I see. Like when I dodged your attack or when I could tell those two Mist ninjas were hiding in the puddle, it was really clear."

"But when you see something further into the future…"

"Everything is kinda hazy and doesn't really make sense."

"Now hold on a second," Sakura said. "Are you really expecting me to believe that Naruto can see the future?"

Kakashi understood her disbelief, but there really wasn't another explanation for all the things Naruto had done. And they had all seen the Monado's power first hand when he broke Zabuza away from the prison.

"I'm not saying I fully believe it just yet," Kakashi stated, "but we should hear what Naruto has to say. A ninja should always take in whatever information they can and then decide what to do with that info afterward."

Three pairs of eyes landed on Naruto once more. "Well, I've seen this vision twice now. The first time it showed me and Sasuke inside some weird dome made of mirrors and being attacked by needles. Then Sasuke-" Naruto stopped when he realized that he was essentially about to tell Sasuke that he was going to die. "Then Sasuke manages to break us out, I think."

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye. _'An obvious lie, but I'll let it slide.'_

"This time it showed Kakashi-sensei with his hand sticking through a hunter-nin's chest with Zabuza ready to cut the two of you in half."

"He cut down his partner just like that?" Sakura wondered.

"The fake hunter probably blocked my attack so that Zabuza could retaliate," Kakashi explained, realizing just how weird it was to be explaining the future while using the past tense.

Kakashi shut his right eye and mulled over what Naruto had told him. _'I'll ask him about that other vision later, but this is proof to me that Zabuza and that hunter will attack us at some point. I'll have to train them so they can handle themselves a little better.'_

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"If Zabuza is still alive, he probably won't be able to move freely for about a week," the jounin said. "A false-death state like that would leave his body severely weakened for some time, so I'd say we have a week, possibly five days at the least, before he's well enough to move again.

"During the next week, I'm going to train the three of you so you'll be better-equipped to fight someone like Zabuza."

* * *

><p><em>Several days later…<em>

A young boy walked through the dense forest. The sun had just risen so it was the best time for him to gather the supplies he needed. The herbs he would be gathering today would guarantee that Zabuza-sama would be ready to fight within a day's time.

Despite his gender, the boy wore a feminine kimono. His face and hair already made most people believe he was a girl, so dressing the part helped to fool his enemies. It wasn't something he had picked up from Zabuza-sama. He had just grown this way, so he played the part in order to gain some small advantage whenever possible.

When on the run from hunters from the Hidden Mist, you took any advantage you could get.

Truth be told, Haku was not in the best of moods today. That loathsome Gatou had come by a few days ago after hearing of Zabuza-sama's defeat at the hands of the Konoha shinobi. He threatened them, but Haku had stepped in to stop his bodyguards from touching Zabuza-sama. Not that they would had lived if they had reached him.

This entire ordeal with Gatou was beginning to wear on his nerves. Haku tried to be the emotionless tool that Zabuza-sama required, but it was a difficult task.

Suddenly a small bird perched itself on his shoulder. Haku paused in his herb gathering to smile at the small bird, but something else in the clearing ahead caught his attention. As the bird flew away, Haku moved forward to inspect the person he could see lying in the middle of the forest.

It was a young boy, not much younger than he. The boy was wearing an orange jumpsuit and on his forehead Haku could see… the headband symbol of the Leaf Village.

'_This one must be with Kakashi's group…'_

At the boy's side, Haku could see a strange red sword.

'_Of course, this is the one that broke Zabuza-sama's prison technique.'_

The boy had displayed impressive skill in dispatching Zabuza-sama's water clones and freeing the Copy Ninja from the water prison. Haku idly wondered how much of the boy's skill depended on that strange-looking blade. He could remember the odd sensation he got when the boy had first brandished that weapon.

Haku cautiously approached the boy. He probably would not recognize Haku as an enemy even if he woke up, but Haku knew better than to expect everything to turn his way.

Slowly Haku reached down to grab the boy. His instinct told him to strangle the boy where he lay, but both the boy and his sword were unpredictable, to say the least. The blade once more caught his eye, and Haku's hand moved unconsciously toward it.

In an instant the blade was poised at his neck, and Haku could see the Leaf ninja glaring at him. The moment passed in tense silence before he moved the blade away.

"Sorry about that," he muttered before picking himself up from the forest floor.

"It's quite alright," Haku assured. In truth, he had been quite shocked by the boy's speed. He knew the boy had power, but being fast enough to surprise him was rare.

The boy seemed rather embarrassed by his mistake. He had flushed red and was fidgeting on his feet and looking away.

"What are you doing out here so early?" he asked.

"I'm gathering medicinal herbs. A friend of mine was recently injured and these herbs will help them recover quicker." Haku eyed the young boy. "What were you doing out here?"

"I was training!" he replied.

"Training? You must be a great shinobi then. What are you training for?"

The boy flushed once more at the compliment. "Because I want to become stronger!" He flashed a winning smile.

"But you already look very strong to me."

"No, I need to be even stronger!"

Haku paused. "Why is that?"

The boy stared at Haku. It unnerved him that this boy could change from that carefree attitude so quickly. "Do you have something that you want to protect no matter what?"

Haku flinched momentarily. "Yes, I do."

The young boy nodded his head. "Then you understand why I want to be stronger."

Haku understood that all too well. "I believe," he began, "that when a person has something they want to protect at all costs, then they can become truly strong."

A strange look passed the boy's face and Haku could swear that he saw his eyes glow blue for a split second.

Suddenly the boy backed away. He took off without warning, but Haku could barely see a look of fear as the blond escaped.

Naruto ran as fast as he could toward Tazuna's house. He had never been this scared in his entire life. Even in that moment when Zabuza had shown up, Naruto hadn't felt this bad.

Against his better judgment, Naruto spared a glance behind him to check if the boy was following him. He couldn't see anything behind him so he turned back around only to see the boy he had just ran way from closing in from ahead of him.

Naruto quickly brandished the Monado and activated the blade. The boy stopped short several branches away. Naruto tried to calm his heavy breathing, but staring into the other boy's eyes just made him remember the vision he'd just seen in that clearing.

It was the same vision as before, except this time the hunter wasn't wearing a mask.

* * *

><p><em>End Chapter 5<em>

_I don't actually have much to say this time. Just hope you guys are excited for the end of the Wave arc next chapter!_


End file.
